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Newsweek gets it right

Their cover story on the US plan to send death squads to Iraq to kill insurgents is titled “Death Squad Democracy.” They oppose it, which shows that antiwar sentiment has indeed reached the mainstream.

A seasoned veteran explains why this is doomed to only create more enemies for the US.

Because weâ€™re talking about the supposed Salvador Option, I figured Iâ€™d get back in touch with Joaquín Villalobos, El Salvadorâ€™s most brilliant guerrilla leader. Now at Oxford, he favored the Iraq war in 2003, but is dumbfounded by the direction the conflict has taken. Villalobos was dryly analytical, as ever. â€œThe problem of repression and its possible effectiveness corresponds to five basic elements: proportionality, the scope of the conflict, time, a context that favors a multiplier effect or not, and the ability to control what youâ€™re doing.â€ If so, a helluva lot more fine tuning is needed than weâ€™re likely to see in Iraq any time soon. â€œIf the generals think that with the hatred against the United States that exists in the region, with the divisions in Iraqi society, with Syria, Iran and others around, starting a dirty war is something that will give them an edge, they are totally and absolutely lost and desperate,â€ says Villalobos. â€œInvading Iraq without a post-war plan created chaos, subsequent mistakes converted the chaos into organized resistance, and if they keep blundering ahead blindly, theyâ€™ll convert the resistance into a real civil war.â€